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Man, 1 Chronicles chapter 10 is where we actually get into the story of 1 Chronicles. Up to this point, chapters 1 through 9 were a lot of genealogical materials, right? Just going through all those different names. But even from those genealogical materials, there was a lot of profitable teaching to be gained, and one of the big things that we gained was the emphasis of 1 Chronicles. Some of the things that are the most interesting in the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles are the things that are left out, because this is a retelling of things that we've already seen in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, but it's telling it from a different perspective, and it really leaves a lot out, and it includes different things. But what we noticed in the first nine chapters was the emphasis on Israel, but more than that, the emphasis on the southern kingdom of Judah specifically, and then especially the emphasis on the tribe of Judah, and especially the emphasis on David and the house of David, right? Because in those genealogies, David's descendants got a whole chapter. The tribe of Judah got two more chapters. That was the emphasis. Well, that's the way the whole book of 1 Chronicles is. If you were to just, you know, sum up 1 Chronicles in one word, it's about David, and especially it's about King David. It's about the reign of David. So we jump into the story when David becomes king of Israel. So we don't read here about David's childhood. We don't read about him killing a lion and a bear. We don't read about David and Goliath, all the wranglings back and forth between him and Saul and Saul pursuing him. You know, the story just jumps in here in chapter 10 with the death of Saul, and the purpose of reading about the death of Saul is what? To set up David becoming king, which is really what the whole book is about. So really, the story starts with David becoming king, and it ends at the end of his reign. Then 2 Chronicles picks up where 1 Chronicles leaves off, and it starts with the reign of Solomon, David's son, and it goes through all of the kings of Judah after David. So let's jump into this chapter, and I would call this chapter the prologue of the story because the story is really about David and his kingdom, but this is kind of a necessary chapter to build up to that because we have to kind of wrap up, okay, here's how David becomes king, Saul dies. So this is kind of a prologue to the actual story of 1 Chronicles. So let's begin reading in verse number 1. Chapter 10, verse 1. Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa, and the Philistines followed hard after Saul and after his sons, and the Philistines slew Jonathan, Anabenedab, and Melchiah, the sons of Saul, and the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers. So we start out this story with a very bleak outlook, don't we? I mean, Israel is getting defeated, they're losing, they're dying, their archenemy, the Philistines is just whooping up on them, Saul's sons died, and then the battle goes sore against Saul, he gets hit by the archers. Of course, archers are those who are firing a bow and arrow, right, that's called archery. So he gets hit by the archer, he's fighting, and he gets hit by the arrows. We don't know how many arrows have entered him, but he is severely wounded by these arrows that have hit him. Verse 4, then said Saul to his armor bearer, draw thy sword and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armor bearer would not, for he was sore afraid, so Saul took a sword and fell upon it. So he's wounded, he feels like there's no way out, he can't win, he's not going to recover, and he's afraid of what the Philistines are going to do to him. Are they going to torture him? Are they going to abuse him in other ways? He doesn't want to face a fate that's worse than death. So he says to his armor bearer, do me a favor and just put me out of my misery. The armor bearer refuses to do it, he's afraid to do it, he doesn't want to be the one to kill King Saul, so King Saul ends up committing suicide by falling upon his own sword as a way of basically stabbing himself and killing himself. And it says in verse 5, when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword and died. So Saul died and his three sons and all his house died together. Now there are already several lessons that we can learn from this right away as we read the Bible. First of all, Saul is a bad example here, because from the book of 1 Samuel, we know that at this point in Saul's life, he's not listening to the word of God, he's not following the Lord, he's in opposition with the Lord, and so because of that, things are going badly for him. And he has lost faith in the Lord here to the point where when he's hit by the archers, he just says, you know, put me out of my misery, instead of trusting in God or asking God to help him or thinking, hey, maybe God's going to perform a miracle. I mean, stranger things have happened. Saul has seen great victories in his life at his own hand, at the hand of Jonathan, at the hand of David, but he's just completely hopeless and decides to just kill himself, right? But what we learn here is that what we do affects other people, because the armor bearer, is the armor bearer even wounded? You know, I mean, the armor bearer kills himself, why? Because Saul killed himself. So Saul falls on the sword, well, you know what, I'm going to fall on the sword too. So what does that tell you? You think to yourself, well, I'm just hurting myself with whatever action you perform in your life, where you get away from God, you lose faith, you lose hope, you quit the church, whatever self-damaging activity you engage in, you know, you're hurting other people. And you might not even know it. You know, Saul didn't even know it. I mean, Saul's dead, little does he know a moment later, his armor bearer ends up killing himself. I don't think that's what Saul intended. You know, so let's say you go out and do some self-destructive activity, such as drinking, such as taking drugs or whatever, you know, other people are going to see you do that and they're going to do the same thing. So we need to make sure that we're setting a right example for other people and all things showing ourselves a pattern of good works. You know, do you want people to be like you? Do you want them to follow your footsteps? Because when you quit the church, guess what, they might quit the church too. When you quit soul winning, they might quit soul winning. Yeah, well, nobody's watching me, but somebody probably is looking up to you and watching you and sees you as a role model, whether you believe that or not. People are looking at your example. It's like when Peter decided in John 21 to go back to the old way of life, fishing, when he was supposed to be a fisher of men, he said, I go a fishing and what did several disciples say? Hey, we're going with you. When you go down a path of sin, you take other people with you, just like Saul did here. So let's keep reading. So Saul died and his three sons and all his house died together. Now, if you read the account in 1 Samuel, it's the exact same story as you find here. But in 2 Samuel, an Amalekite comes along and tells a different story that doesn't jive with this story. The simple truth is that that man's lying because we have God telling us what happened in 1 Chronicles and 1 Samuel. We don't need some Amalekite to tell us. That guy was lying. He was trying to get the glory for killing Saul when he didn't even kill him. Now by the way, let me bring up the fact that 1 Chronicles Chapter 10 is almost identical to another chapter, 1 Samuel 31. If you put 1 Samuel 31 side by side with 1 Chronicles Chapter 10, they're almost identical. They don't have any meaningful difference until you get to verse 10. So when we get to verse 10, we're going to compare the two and look at the differences between the two because it's pretty interesting. But up verses 1 through 9, I say there's not a meaningful difference. You know, it might say Saul's sons, the sons of Saul, but it's not really a meaningful difference. You know, you get the same meaning up through verse 9. So let's keep reading here. In verse 7 it says, when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities and fled and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. Again, we see that everything rises and falls on leadership. When the leader dies, when he fails, when he's defeated, what happens? Everybody else loses heart. They get discouraged. They all go running home and forsake the cities and just let the Philistines win. So we need to make sure we have strong leadership and that that leadership sets a good example and is a good pattern, which Saul was not. Verse 8, and it came to pass on the morrow when the Philistines came to strip the slain that they found Saul and his sons fallen in Mount Gilboa. And when they had stripped him, they took his head and his armor and sent into the land of the Philistines roundabout to carry tidings under their idols and to the people. So you can see why Saul was afraid that they were going to abuse him. Even after he's dead, what are they doing? Abusing his corpse. So they actually end up mutilating his body. They behead his body. They send the head to one place, the body to another place, the armor to another place, just to parade it and put it on as a show. Remember what they did to Samson? When the Philistines defeated Samson, these are the same people, and the Philistines, they defeated Samson. They put out his eyes and they made sport of him. They made fun of him. They mocked him. And so that's what Saul was afraid of. Still doesn't make it right that he killed himself, but that's what he feared happening. And it's happening even after he's dead. They're mutilating his corpse. So they're bragging about it. They sent into the land of the Philistines roundabout to carry the tidings or the news unto their idols and to the people. They're celebrating. I mean, the Philistines and Israel are enemies. They won. They defeated King Saul, who's been a man that they've been up against now for about 40 years that Saul reigned over Israel. This is their mortal enemy defeated in battle. So they've got the head as a trophy. They've got the body as a trophy. They are rejoicing, and they're carrying the tidings unto their idols. You know, they're glorifying their false gods. They're basically praising their false gods for giving them the victory. Now the false gods are not the ones that gave them the victory. The Lord is the one that gave them the victory. And the reason why the Lord gave them the victory is not because the Philistines were so great, but it's because the Israelites were at a period where they were wicked, and King Saul especially was wicked in the sight of God at this time. Flip over to Habakkuk chapter 1. Keep your finger there in 1 Chronicles, but go to Habakkuk chapter 1. You'll find a similar scripture. This is right before the New Testament. You have all those short little books in the Minor Prophets. And if you go to Habakkuk chapter 1, the Bible basically is talking about the Chaldeans or the Babylonians defeating Judah, and God is using the Babylonians to punish Judah. Just like in 1 Chronicles 10, God was using the Philistines to punish Israel. This is hundreds of years later, but it's the same concept of God using a heathen nation in order to defeat his people to punish them. And it talks about how, look if you would at verse 13. And the question is this is Habakkuk seeking to understand what God's doing. And he says in verse 13, thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, Habakkuk 1.13. And canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore lookest thou upon them that dealeth treacherously, and holdest thy tongue, when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? So when he sees the Babylonians defeating Judah, he says, well, you know, this is the wicked devouring the man that is more righteous than he. Verse 14, and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them. They take up all of them with the angle, angling is what? Fishing or using a fishing pole. They take up all of them with the angle. They catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice under their net, and burn incense under their drag. Because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. So what he's saying is, look, the Babylonians are defeating Judah. They're not glorifying the Lord that's giving them the victory. They're not giving God the praise. They're basically glorifying the net. You know, they're bowing down to their idol. It's as ridiculous as somebody bowing down to their fishing pole or their net and worshiping their nets, an inanimate object. So Habakkuk is rebuking that. And then what the answer is in the subsequent chapters of Habakkuk is that, you know, God's going to now punish the Babylonians. So he used the Babylonians to punish Judah, but then he's going to turn around and punish the Babylonians because they're even worse than the children of Judah. So it would be, go back to 1 Chronicles 10, it would be sort of like if God wanted to punish the United States of America, right? You know, the United States of America used to worship the Lord, and then they turned away from the Lord. So then God brought in some heathen nation to punish the US. What's a country that he could bring in, for example, you know, North Korea, Russia, China, right? These are things that people are calling out. Well, here's the thing. Yeah, yeah, right. So if God used any of those, if God used North Korea, China or Russia to punish us, wouldn't you say that the United States, as bad as it is, is still more righteous than those places? Those places are even worse than us. But would that prevent God from using them to punish us? No. Because he used Babylon to punish Judah. He used the Philistines to punish Judah. You know, it makes sense, right? Because of the fact that God will often use the wicked to punish the man that is more righteous than he, but then because the wicked doesn't glorify God at that point and repent and start serving the Lord, well, guess what? He's going to get the same punishment. It's going to come back around to him, which is what happened in the case of Babylon as well. So that's a principle that we see throughout the Bible and something to keep in mind that you know what? Just because we're better than this other nation, it doesn't mean they're not going to defeat us in battle. They could defeat us in battle if God's using them to punish us. Because unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required. God had a higher standard for Israel than the Philistines because Israel had received so much preaching and so much truth and they had been the people of God. So look at 1 Chronicles chapter 10 here. And if you would, get your finger in 1 Samuel 31. So put a finger in 1 Samuel 31. And we're going to look at 1 Chronicles 10 side by side with 1 Samuel 31. This is a way to study the Bible, right? Comparing scripture with scripture. And these are what's called parallel passages. You can do this with 2 Peter chapter 2 and the book of Jude. You can do this with Colossians chapter 3 and Ephesians 4, 5, and 6, or 4 and 5. And then you can put Ephesians 6 with Colossians 4. You know, you can find these parallel passages. You can do this with the four gospels and compare and contrast. And sometimes you can learn something interesting. So like I said, the first nine verses are pretty much the same. But in verse 10, there's a divergence here. So let's notice the difference. In 1 Samuel 31 verse 10, it says, they put his armor in the house of Ashtoreth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beschan. Right? Okay, now let's look at verse 10 in 1 Chronicles. They put his armor in the house of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. So from these two verses, we find three pieces of information. Where did his body go? Where did his head go? And where did his armor go? Right? Three different places. So Samuel doesn't tell us where the head went. But 1 Chronicles does, right? Because 1 Chronicles tells us in verse 10 that the head went in the temple of Dagon. Right? Now in 1 Samuel, it tells us where his body went, the wall of Beschan. Chronicles doesn't tell us where the body went. It only tells us where the head went. So by comparing both, we figure out where the body went, where the head went. Now they both tell us where the armor went. Both of them tell us, but they word it differently, don't they? Because in 1 Samuel 31, it says that they put his armor in the house of Asheroth, right? And in 1 Chronicles 10, it says that they put his armor in the house of their gods, plural. So the house of Asheroth in 1 Samuel 31 is replaced with the house of their gods in 1 Chronicles chapter 10. Why is that? Because Asheroth is plural, okay? Now you can study scripture and compare scripture with scripture to see these endings that are the O-T-H ending that is a plural ending, okay? Sort of like, if you remember the Lord of Sabaoth, who knows what I'm talking about? So in the New Testament, in Romans chapter 9 and in James 5, it says the Lord of Sabaoth or Sabaoth, you could, you know, do an English style pronunciation. Now if we cross-reference Romans 9 with the book of Isaiah, we find out that that word Sabaoth actually means what, hosts, except the Lord of hosts had kept us a seed. And then we come to the New Testament, it's the Lord of Sabaoth, right? So that O-T-H, hosts, is plural, right? That O-T-H is a plural ending, sort of like the I-M ending, like Baalim is plural. And that's why a lot of times you'll see it mentioned that the children of Israel, when they worshiped false gods, it'll say they worshiped Baalim, which is plural, and Ashtarot, which is also plural, because that I-M is the masculine plural ending in Hebrew, and the O-T ending is the feminine plural ending. So it makes sense when you compare scripture with scripture, that Ashtarot is not one god, but it's gods, plural, because of the fact that in 1 Samuel 31 it said what? The house of their gods. And in 1 Chronicles 10, everything else was the same in the verse, except it said, you know, the house of Ashtaroth, right? And then if you're really paying attention, you'll see that the Bible mentions the singular version of this in 1 Kings chapter 11, and I believe 2 Kings 23, where it says, it says Ashtoreth, you know, so it's just like a little bit different. Instead of Ashtaroth, it's Ashtoreth. That's like a singular female goddess that they're worshipping. And then this is plural, female goddesses that they're worshipping. So a lot of times, when they're worshipping the gods of the Canaanites, I mean, does it really matter which false god they're worshipping? No. So therefore, sometimes God will just say they worship Baalim, Baalim being a catchall for these various male gods, these male deities that they worship, whether that's Baal Zebub or Baal Ekron or whichever Baal that they worship, you know, it's all the devil. It's all wicked. So then it's like the Baalim is the male side and the Ashtaroth are just basic female goddesses that they worship. So anyway, by comparing scripture and scripture, you can see that that Ashtaroth is a plural of multiple gods in this house where they're worshipping. Now another thing I want to point out, too, is the god Dagon. And this is one that's mentioned also in the book of Judges in regard to the Philistines. This is a god they worship, Dagon. And this is a fish god. The word dog in Hebrew means fish. So Dagon is their fish god. So when you see a lot of false religions and pagan religions today using this fish symbol, that actually goes all the way back to the Philistines with their fish god that they worship. Okay. For example, the pope wears a funny hat, amen? And when the pope wears a funny hat, often it has like a fish symbol built into his funny hat. His hat is like in the shape of a fish if you look at it carefully, right? Who knows what I'm talking about? We've seen that fishy hat that he's wearing. Okay. But not only that, a lot of Christians today will take a molten fish and put that on their car as a Christian symbol. I don't approve of that symbol. I don't like that symbol. I wouldn't put that symbol on my car. And especially because, first of all, we're not supposed to make any molten image of any beast. But not only are we not supposed to use molten images of beasts, but the Bible actually specifically in that prohibition which is found in Deuteronomy 4, we don't have to turn there for sake of time, but in Deuteronomy chapter 4 when he tells you, hey, don't make any graven images, don't make any molten images, he brings up a few specific examples. He says, don't make it of any bird that flyeth in the air, don't make it of any fish of the sea, or of any beast. Well, if you think about it, what are the two molten images that Christians are most likely to put on their car in 2018? A fish or a bird, right? Because they either have a little metal bird or they have a little metal fish. And people say, oh, that's a sign of the early Christians. Really? Because I was having trouble finding that in my Bible, that an icon of a fish, a metal molten fish, somehow represents Christianity. You know, I did find Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines, but I didn't find any Christian. And then people say, well, you know, they were secret. So one of them would walk up and make half of it. And then if the other one came up and kind of finished it with the other half, then they know, like, OK, we're safe here, we're cool, we're Christian. Here's the thing, that's not biblical. Because the Bible teaches that if we are persecuted to that level where we cannot be openly Christian, then we are to flee into another city. Nowhere does the Bible teach us to be secret agent Christians, secret Christians. No, we're supposed to openly be confessing Christ at all times in all places. If we can't openly confess Christ, it's time to go somewhere else. It's time to leave. That's what the Bible teaches. You don't find John, Paul, Peter, James having secretive ministries and secret handshakes and secret fish symbols that they draw on the ground because they're just openly preaching Christ. Because, look, if I can't openly preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, I better go somewhere where I can. And that's why Jesus said, when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. That doesn't mean at the least little bit of resistance, we just go, all right, time to leave. You know, somebody yelled at us. Obviously, he's talking about levels of persecution, like where they're stoning people and killing people and throwing people in prison. You know, at that point, there's nothing wrong with shaking off the dust of your feet and going somewhere else. And so I don't buy this secret fish symbol. I, you know, I think that that story is made up. Or if it is real, it's not the kind of Christians that I would have been hanging around with and running with back in those days because they're the ones who are trying to keep it secret. You know, that's what, that's what sodomites do. Little secret signs, you know, trying to find each other. They're queer buddies. You know what? This is what people who infiltrate a church like a Judas Iscariot do. They kind of test the waters, see if they can hit you with some false doctrine, see how you react, kind of, but you know what? God's people are of the light. We are not of the night nor of darkness. See, it's wickedness that thrives in darkness. The sodomites, the sons of Belial, Judas, false prophets that hide what they believe. That's why it's like pulling teeth to get Mormons to tell you what they believe. Now thank God Brother Logan Robinson, man, he, or Robertson, he got them to tell him what he believes. Who, who got to see Brother Logan Robertson's new documentary, The Latter Day Satans? And man alive, I couldn't believe it because he's walking up to these Mormon missionaries and Mormon elders and I mean they're just telling them everything. And you gotta, you gotta watch through the credits too because after the credits there's like more little extra scenes that get thrown in the credits. And the final little extra scene, this Mormon's just like, oh yeah, we believe in Satan. I mean we, you know, Lucifer's our brother and it's just like what in the world? But I mean if you, I mean he talks to a whole bunch of different Mormon missionaries and elders. They're talking about being their own god on their own planet. But here's the thing, a lot of times it's like pulling teeth to get them to admit that. Why? Because they don't put their beliefs out in the open. They have secretive ceremonies in the temples. The Freemasons, do they put all their beliefs out in the open? No. It's all hidden away. It's secret. Secret societies, secret clubs, religions that don't tell you up front what they believe. These are wicked. The children of the light just openly admit these are our beliefs. This is our doctrine. Hey, if you're questioning us about the good deed done unto the lame man, you know, by what means he's healed, hey, let it be known unto everybody that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, right, isn't that how the apostles were? And neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. They weren't just like, you know what I mean, just making a little symbol and just kind of waiting to see how everybody reacts. You know, you won't find that in the Bible and you won't find that molten image on my car. You say, well pastor, I have it on my car. You're offending me. Well, you know what? Do you need to borrow a screwdriver? Cause we probably have a screwdriver. I mean, somebody here has probably got a screwdriver so that you can destroy the idol there of Dagon off the back of your car. All right. It's a, and you say, well, pastor Anderson, I mean, are you mad at me if I keep it on my car? No, because I'm not the one who's, who's inviting demons into my life and, and you know, it has idolatry on the back of my car. I'm going to be fine. You know, it's not my problem, but anyway. So that's an interesting thing when we compare verse 10. Okay. Now, now let's look at verse 11 here in both. It says, and when the inhabitants were in first Samuel 31, when the inhabitants of Jabez Gilead heard of that, which the Philistines had done to Saul, verse 11 pretty much says same thing in first Chronicles, right? When all Jabez Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, look at verse 11 or verse 12 in first Samuel, all the valley of men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethchan and came to Jabesh and burnt them there. Notice those words and burnt them there. Verse 13, and they took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days. Let's go back to first Chronicles and in first Chronicles 10, it says, they arose, all the valiant men and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days. So that's where the story ended in first Samuel, didn't it? So the chapter in first Chronicles has two extra verses, right? Verses 13 and 14, we're going to look at those in a moment. Those are not in the first Samuel passage, right? Okay. And then we had that additional phrase in the first Samuel passage that said what? They burnt them there. Now you say, Pastor Anderson, is this a cremation? Is this cremation in the Bible? No, because when they're done burning them, they buried the bones under a tree. And when you cremate a body, guess what? The bones are cremated as well. So when you cremate someone, the bones are a part of that cremation. The bones themselves are reduced to dust. That's why you'll see these urns where people's ashes are stored. You know, that includes the bone. That's everything. You know, I watched a documentary on cremation, and when it gets really hot, they'll take a little poker and basically just barely touch the bones, and the bones crumble into ash once they've been heated to very high temperatures. Modern cremation ovens are at like 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, and they get them super hot. They're computer controlled. It takes about one hour per hundred pounds of human flesh in order to cremate a body, and that includes the skeleton itself being reduced to powder, being reduced to ashes. Now you say, well, how'd they do it back then, Pastor Anderson? You know, they don't have cremation ovens. Well, what they would do is they would just build a wood fire and lay someone's body, the dead body, directly on the wood, and this is known as a funeral pyre, right? So this is what pagan peoples would do. They would make a funeral pyre, Scandinavians, Hindus, people in the Middle East. They'd pile up a whole lot, and it takes a lot of wood because you have to get really hot in order to reduce the bones to ash. That takes a tremendous amount of fuel and heat, and they would have a funeral pyre and cremate them. Now the Bible does not teach cremation. The Bible teaches to bury the dead, and the purpose of burying the dead is it's symbolic of a seed being planted because you believe that that person will rise again. It is sown. What does it mean sown, to plant a seed? It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. So Christians bury their dead as a symbol of believing in the resurrection. Okay, so that's the purpose of burying the dead. Pagans, you know, burn them or cremate them as a symbol of where they're going to end up, you know, in hell. Now obviously a person can be buried and go straight to hell, and a person can be cremated and still go straight to heaven, but it's symbolic. And you know, we wouldn't want to symbolize something pagan. We'd rather symbolize something godly, something Christian. So we'll follow the example of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, you know, Christ, and everybody else of burying the dead, right? Now what is this talking about then? Because this is not cremation. They burned them, but then they buried the bones. You say, Pastor Anderson, I think you're splitting hairs here or making a distinction that isn't really in the text. But au contraire, because of the fact that, how do you like that pronunciation, huh? So anyway, au contraire, say it right, au contraire, because of the fact that in the Bible we have a distinction of this. When Josiah wants to desecrate the false prophets of the past, you know what he does? He goes and digs up their bones, and what does he do? He burns the bones to desecrate them, to dishonor them. So there is a difference between what these guys did, burning the flesh off their bodies and burying the bones, and a full cremation. Now you say, okay, Pastor Anderson, but why did they burn them? Well, I believe that they burned them because these bodies had probably been mutilated in some way. Because remember, these are the people where Saul said, boy, just kill me because I don't want to fall into their hands. I don't want them to abuse me. We already know they abused the corpse because they beheaded it, they stripped it nude, they hung the body in one place, they hung the head somewhere else. So who knows what else they did. Perhaps they printed marks upon the body, something to do with praising their false god or something. You know, there could have been some kind of marks or tattoos printed on the body. It could have been something else just gross or mutilated or whatever that was just something that was dishonorable in the eyes of the men of Jabesh Gillian. They said, hey, you know, we need to cleanse this corpse of what the Philistines have done to it. And the Bible doesn't tell us what they did, but we know there was abuse that took place, mutilation of the corpse. So it's burned as a cleansing, not to dishonor. That's why it's not a cremation, it's just a cleansing by fire. And then the body is given a burial under this tree. Later David will dig up these bones of Saul and his sons and move them to the family burial place of the tribe of Benjamin so that they could be buried in an honorable place. Okay, so let's get into the new verses in 1 Chronicles 10. So again, verses 1 through 12 are pretty much what we already got from 1 Samuel 31, right? Except for just a few little extra details like about Dagon and, you know, a couple subtle differences, Ashtoreth and et cetera. So now let's get into the two verses that are unique to 1 Chronicles 10. It says in verse 13, so Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord. Therefore, he slew him and turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse. It's pretty obvious why these two verses are in Chronicles and not in Samuel. You don't need them in Samuel because in Samuel, when you're reading chapter 31, you just finished reading what? Chapters 28, 29, 30, you already know all that. You know about how he went to the woman that had a familiar spirit, but remember in Chronicles, we're jumping into the story right at this point with no prologue. This is the prologue. So there has to be some explanation given here for what did Saul do wrong? Why did he die? Why did this happen to him? Because we are jumping into the story at just a midpoint of Saul dying. So these two last explanatory verses are given. But there's something pretty interesting here. Nothing in the Bible is incidental, coincidental, or accidental. Everything in the Bible is the way it is for a reason. And like I said, one of the most interesting things about 1 Chronicles are the things that are left out, the things that are omitted. And by the way, they're not left out by accident. Oh, the guy didn't know the whole story. Look, 1 and 2 Chronicles is one of the latest books written of the Old Testament. They already had 1 and 2 Samuel. They already had 1 and 2 Kings. It wasn't something that they didn't know. These things are purposely left out of 1 Chronicles because 1 Chronicles has a certain story that it's telling about the reign of King David. And this is the way the Bible is. Certain books of the Bible are designed to emphasize certain things. It's like the four Gospels. They leave things out that the other Gospels cover. Why? Because Matthew is emphasizing that Jesus is the King of the Jews. Mark is emphasizing Christ as servant. Luke is emphasizing Jesus Christ as the Son of Man. John is emphasizing Christ as the Son of God. So because of the emphasis, different things are omitted. Well, 1 Chronicles has a certain emphasis on David's kingdom. And there are a lot of things that are left out, just glaring omissions. But they're left out on purpose. Because 1 Chronicles chapter 10 and the whole rest of the book of 1 Chronicles is giving us a certain narrative. Now, if 1 Chronicles 10 were identical to 1 Samuel 31, and if we continued through 1 Chronicles and everything is identical to 2 Samuel, wouldn't you start to ask yourself, like, what's the point of even having 1 Chronicles? I mean, if it's going to include all the same stuff, you might as well just not even have it. It's just a duplicate. But 1 and 2 Chronicles are profitable because they contain different information and they leave out things. You must have both to get the full picture. And if you're really going to do deep study of the Bible, you start comparing scripture with scripture and reading between the lines. Like, for example, let me just show you a huge gap here. At the end of chapter 10, Saul dies, right? Look at verse 1 of chapter 11. Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. And they asked him to be king. Guess what? You know how much time just went by between the end of chapter 10 and the beginning of chapter 11? Seven and a half years, OK? Because if you're reading 1 Samuel, when Saul dies, what happens? Saul's son, you know, is put on the throne by Abner. And then after two years, he gets wiped out. But then other relatives of Saul are reigning, Abner himself starts to make himself strong for the house of Saul. And there's a wrangling that goes on for seven and a half years. And David, for seven and a half years, only reigns over just the tribe of Judah. So when Saul dies, David becomes the king of Judah. But the other tribes are all following the house of Saul, which is a foreshadowing of the divided kingdom that's going to come after Solomon. And if you jump into the story in Samuel, seven and a half years later, you'll read verses that are just about identical to chapter 11, verse 1, 2, 3, identical story. But you don't really notice that here. Why? Because what's this book about? This book, 1 Chronicles, has a certain agenda, a certain point that it's making. And it's all about David's glorious kingdom over all of the united Israel, OK? Don't miss that. What's 1 Chronicles about? David ruling over a united Israel. So that's why him ruling over just Judah, totally omitted, OK? We just skip over that part, not relevant to this book, OK? Not only that, but, you know, David committing adultery with Bathsheba, totally omitted. You know, Absalom, Adonijah, I mean, these stories that are major cataclysmic events that happen during David's kingdom that aren't even touched on in this book. And you say, why is that? Look, the Bible's very deep. And the Bible has a lot of symbolic meaning. There's the surface meaning, but then there are deeper symbolic meanings. What do you think is the most important symbolic meaning about King David? Who does he represent symbolically? The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the son of David. And in fact, in the Old Testament, sometimes prophecies about Jesus just call him David even. Because these two are linked, right? Jesus is pictured by David. David said, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. You know, that was actually a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ, according to Acts 231. So, you know, that's what this is about, David ruling over a united kingdom, OK, which is symbolic of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ over a united kingdom. Now, here's the most interesting part about these two verses. Verses 13 and 14 here that are the extra material, OK, that are kind of wrapping up for us what we missed in 1 Samuel. It says in verse 13, so Saul died for his transgression, which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it. This is an important phrase, verse 14, and inquired not of the Lord. Everybody got that? It says that Saul inquired of a witch and inquired not of the Lord, OK? Now, let's go back to 1 Samuel 28. 1 Samuel 28, and let's go back to that story in 1 Samuel about the witch, about the woman that had a familiar spirit. OK, 1 Samuel 28, it says in verse 4, and the Philistines gathered themselves together and came and pitched in Shunem, and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa, and when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. Now why is he so afraid? Because he's not right with God. You know, when you're right with God, you know that the Lord's going to protect you, you rely on him for safety. He knows the Lord's departed from him, he's scared to death. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets, then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her. Now notice the difference between 1 Samuel 28 and 1 Chronicles 10. Notice the apparent contradiction here. Because in 1 Samuel 28, it says, when he inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim and Thummim, nor by prophets. Then he said, all right, go find me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may inquire of her. Whereas in 1 Chronicles 10, verse 14, it just said what? He inquired not of the Lord. Now let me tell you why. And what is God trying to teach us here? This isn't an accident, this isn't a mistake. Here's what he's trying to teach us. You know, when you ask God, what is the right thing? When you inquire of the Lord, and then don't get an immediate answer, and then say, all right, well, let's go ask the devil then. God says, that's not inquiring of the Lord. That's not inquiring of the Lord. When you inquire of the Lord, get no answer, and then immediately, all right, let's try something else. That's not a legitimate inquiry in the sight of God. God looks at that as, well, you didn't inquire of the Lord. It's sort of like this. If you believe in Jesus Christ and Buddha, what would we say? That's not believing in Jesus. Because believing in Jesus means you believe in only Jesus. And inquiring of the Lord means you inquire of the Lord only, not the Lord. And then five minutes later, it didn't happen, the devil. Here's what's interesting. Go back to Chapter 14. Is this the first time that Saul inquired of the Lord and got no answer? No. Because if we go back to 1 Samuel, Chapter 14, we'll find another case where Saul inquired of the Lord and got no answer. And guess who he's up against? The Philistines. Same situation. He's up against the Philistines. He inquires of the Lord. He gets no answer. Let's look at the difference in his reaction back then. Back in Chapter 14, Verse 37. And Saul asked counsel of God, shall I go down after the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day. So isn't this exactly what happened in 28? But here he doesn't say, all right, let's go find a witch. Let's go to the psychic reader. What does he say? Saul said, draw ye near hither all the chief of the people, and know and see where in this sin hath been this day. Because he knew that no answer is an answer. When you inquire of the Lord and you get no answer, that's, in a sense, an answer that there's a problem. There's sin there that needs to be dealt with. And in this chapter, he realizes there's sin that needs to be dealt with. Of course, the sin was in Jonathan, his son, I preached on it a few months ago. But the point is that here we see Saul having the right reaction of, oh, God's not answering me? Okay, let's figure out what the problem is. Let's deal with sin. Let's get the sin corrected. That's what Saul should have done. See, it's not inquiring of the Lord when you shop opinions. You know, you go to the pastor or some other godly Christian and say, you know, well, what does the Bible say I should do in this situation? And then it's not the answer that you wanted. So then you just go with a worldly counselor. You follow Oprah Winfrey's advice. You follow Dr. Spock's advice. You follow Dr. Phil's advice. You know, that's not inquiring of the Lord. You know, when you inquire of the Lord, you search the scriptures. You get godly counsel and advice, and then you follow it. You know what I mean? You say, okay, well, if that's what the Bible says, that's what I'm going to do. Now, if a person gives you their opinion, you might not necessarily follow it. But if somebody shows you point blank, hey, here's what the Bible says, you know, that's inquiring of the Lord, right? Not a trial basis. You know, the Bible doesn't say taste and see if the Lord is good. It says taste and see that the Lord is good. You don't just test it out, try it out. I mean, you know what, you get all the way in, and you follow it through to the end of your life. Now, what was the right thing for Saul to do when he sought the Lord in 1 Samuel 28 and he got no answer? What should Saul have done? You're Saul, okay? Let's put you in Saul's shoes, and you have a chance to rehabilitate Saul. You're going to be Saul, except you're going to be a Saul who ends his life correctly. What do you do? You pray to the Lord, he doesn't answer. You know what you'd say? You'd say, you know what, maybe this is because Samuel the prophet already told me that the kingdom of God is going to be taken away from me, and that I'm not going to be king over Israel, and that my sons aren't going to be kings over Israel, and that he's already chosen someone else, and that person who's already been anointed as David, so it's time for me to step down and let David take the leadership of Israel, because God's going to answer him, and I'm just going to step down and I'm going to serve David. Wouldn't that make sense? Is that what you would do, right? Hey, I better serve David. David's the guy that God's using. David's the one that God's blessing. You know, I blew it, but you know what, I can still serve God, just not as king. But I can still serve God, right? I can serve David. That's not what he did. He was given a clear directive. Look at 1 Samuel 15, and I'm going to explain to you what this means, but 1 Samuel 15 verse 28, and Samuel said unto him, the Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou. And also, the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent. Look, he's telling him, this is your second time messing up. You already blew it royally in chapter 13. You've blown it a second time in chapter 15. You're done. The kingdom of God is taken from you. The kingdom of Israel. Oh, but I started to accidentally kind of quote something from the New Testament because it's so similar. What did I accidentally start to quote? The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Who was that said to? The Jews. Why? Because the Jews represent King Saul. David represents Christians, or Christ, because we as Christians are in Christ. Okay, the kingdom of God is taken from you, Saul, and it's given to the one that's better than you, Jesus Christ, Christians, and so forth. Now, how did the Jews react when Jesus told them that? Did they do the right thing and say, all right, let's step down and let's submit ourselves to Jesus Christ? Is that what they did? They began to persecute Christ, just like Saul persecuted David. And in the book of Acts, we see the Jews continue to persecute the Christians, just as Saul persecuted David. Why? Because Saul is the one who God is done with. The Jews are the ones that God is done with. Same wording. Kingdom of Israel is taken from you. Kingdom of God is taken from you, given to someone else. Same situation. So this is what I mean about the Bible having a deeper meaning. Now, we don't want to miss the surface meaning. We don't want to only go with the deep meaning. Always take the surface meaning. That's the important thing, the primary meaning. But as we go deeper, we can understand, oh, I can see why 1 Chronicles is the way it is. It's symbolizing certain things about Jesus Christ, and Samuel is also symbolizing things about Jesus Christ. Why? Because to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. So the whole Bible points to Jesus. So King Saul represents unbelieving Israel, the Jews rejected by God. And notice he says, I'm not going to repent. Let me ask you this. Did the kingdom ever go back to Saul? No. Well guess what? It's not going back to the Jews either. They're the fig tree that's been cursed and will never bring forth fruit again. You say, well, what about all those verses about a future restored Israel? Yeah, that's because the future restored Israel is after the resurrection of the dead. You know, look at those scriptures in context. It happens at the beginning of the millennium. Why? Because all of the saved Israelites are going to come back from the dead. They're all going to be resurrected. And along with us will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years. And the 12 disciples in the regeneration will sit on 12 tribes, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. But it's not going to be the Christ rejecting Jews that are brought back like, oh, let's bring Saul back. Let's put him on, let's put Saul's sons on the throne. No, no. What it is is it is the saved Israelites from the past that are going to be resurrected and Christians and saved Israelites will inherit the kingdom. But the Jews, the Christ rejectors, they are toast. Game over for them. And you know what? God's not going to change his mind about that. He says he will not lie nor repent for he's not a man that he should repent. Now let me just, while we're here, let me just kind of just kick this dog of oneness one more time. You know, the Trinity. Because there's just so much proof against it on every page of the Bible. Aren't there verses that say that God is not a man? Didn't we just look at one? Doesn't it say God's not a man? And then also there's a verse where it says he's not a man nor is he the son of man. So God is not a man nor is he the son of man. Okay. But then we also have other verses in the Old Testament that say what? God is a man of war, right? So we have God being portrayed as a man. We see a man come up to Abraham and it's the Lord. So how can the Lord be man and not be man? How can he be the son of man and not the son of man? How can we not see his face and live and then we can also see him face to face at a few times in the Old Testament where people do see him face to face. How can these things be? Here's how. Because God the Father is not a man. Jesus Christ, God the Son, is a man. You see how that just takes care of that? And God the Father is the one whose face we cannot see. No man shall see my face and live. But then we have people seeing Jehovah's face in the Old Testament and they're like, wow, I didn't die. And in fact, let's name this place after it. Let's call it Peniel because I've seen the face of God and my life is preserved. Why? Because he saw Jesus. He saw the son of God. So you see how many times did Jesus call himself the son of man? Is Jesus God? Yes. But God's not the son of man. God the Father is not the son of man. God the Father is not a man. Jesus Christ is that part of God which is man. Jesus is a man. Jesus is the son of man. Jesus is called the son of man in the Old Testament. In Daniel chapter 7, it calls him the ancient of days and it calls him the son of man. And then it calls God the Father the ancient of days, right? But God the Father is not the son of man. That's why the Bible can truthfully say God is not a man, God is not the son of man because it's specifically there talking about the Father, not the son of God. Now if you espouse this oneness doctrine, well now you're just filled with a lot of contradictions now. Now you just have all these contradictions in the Bible. Is he a man or is he not a man? Can we see his face or can we not see his face? Is he visible or is he invisible? You know, but it's all answered by the Trinity because the Trinity is the truth. And it actually harmonizes the teachings of the entire Bible. That's why all evangelical Christians and Baptists all believe in it. And it's only a few cults that reject it, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, United Pentecostal Church Incorporated, et cetera. Okay, so that commercial break for the Trinity is over. So remember what Pastor Jimenez said, accept your pastor's repeated teachings on basic doctrine, right? So anyway, that's pretty interesting, isn't it, how Saul is said not to have inquired of the Lord. Why? He didn't even wait for the answer, and he didn't even interpret the non-answer for the answer that it was, that I'm not with you. And when he finally talks to Samuel, when he goes to the witch at Endor, and Samuel actually does appear to him, what does Samuel tell him? You're doomed. You're done. Right? And we'll close on that. Let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 28. You should already be in 1 Samuel, right? Flip over to 1 Samuel 28, we'll close on that thought. 1 Samuel chapter 28, verse 16, then said Samuel, wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? Again the parallel with the Jews, where the Bible says that the Jews are the enemies of the Gospel, in Romans chapter 11. And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me, for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thy hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David, because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor executest his fierce wrath upon Amalek. Therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. The Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. No hope, no message of good cheer, it's all negative, it's all doom. Pretty much the same answer that he got from the Lord. Nothing. Silence. Why? Because he was done with him. And he should have realized that he was done as king, stepped down, and submitted himself to the right king, David. You know, let's say a pastor goes out and commits adultery, or whatever the grievous major thing that he does, where let's say he took the church's missions money and developed a gambling addiction, or whatever, you know, sadly a lot of missions money, you know, you might as well throw it at a slot machine, because a lot of these missionaries are so bogus, you know what I mean, but anyway, you know, but there was a pastor that I heard about, he was an independent fundamental Baptist, and I don't think he was a horrible person, but he developed a gambling addiction and he embezzled money from the church and poured it into his gambling. I mean, look, obviously that guy can't keep being the pastor. You know, I think he should be forgiven if he repents, you know, confess and forsake the sin, we forgive him, reinstate him, and you know how that guy can continue to love and serve Christ, stepping down as pastor and being a faithful church member. The pastor who goes out and commits adultery, the pastor who divorces his wife, or his wife divorces him, either way, he failed as a leader in his home. If my wife were to divorce me, if I were to divorce her, you know what would happen? I would immediately step down and become a faithful church member. Why? Because I can't be the pastor anymore, but I can still serve God. And you know what? Until you're dead, you can still serve God. And just because Saul can't be king anymore, he could step down and serve under David, but what did he do? He's trying to hunt David, because all he cared about was keeping that position. Just like the Jews, all they cared about was just keeping their traditions, keeping their religion, keeping their prestige. We're God's chosen people. No, you're not. You need to get in Christ, or you're about as much the chosen as Saul was chosen after he'd been rejected by the Lord. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord, and all the things that we could learn just from this short chapter. Lord, thank you for the surface teaching, where you showed us, look, if we commit sin, other people are going to do the same thing. If we commit suicide, someone else might. If we get drunk, someone else might. If we quit the church, someone else might. Lord, also, the surface teaching that says that if we disobey your word, we're going to face a bad end. But Lord, also, the deeper meanings, Lord, help us to understand that when we inquire of you, we need to give you the last word and not go shopping opinions between you and the devil. And Lord, if we ever come to a point where we have sin in our life and lose out on opportunities to be a pastor or king or whatever, Lord, help us to be willing to continue to serve as a humble servant.